Anina shut the power off and stood up. The floor of the house was just above her head. In front of her, near the center of the building, she saw the side walls of an inner inclosure some twenty feet square. These walls came down to the surface, making a room like a basement to the dwelling. A broad doorway, with a sliding door that now stood open, gave ingress. The boat had now almost lost headway. Anina nosed its bow into this doorway, and grasping one of the pilings near at hand, brought it to rest. Mercer, at a signal from her, climbed cautiously to his feet, still holding the little light-ray cylinder in his hand. "What's that in there?" he whispered. Beyond the doorway, through which the bow of the boat projected, there was complete darkness. "Lower room," Anina whispered back. "Store things in there. And boat landing, too." "Let's go in and see." Mercer started toward the bow of the boat. Six feet or more of it was inside the doorway. He made his way carefully into the bow, and found himself inside the basement of the house. In the dimness of this interior he could just make out the outlines of things around. The doorway was located at a corner of the inclosure. In front lay a small open space of water. At one side a platform about two feet above the surface formed the floor of the room. A tiny punt lay moored to it. Farther back a small, steep flight of steps led up through a rectangular opening to the building above. Most of the light in this lower room came down through this opening; and now, as Mercer stood quiet looking about him, he could hear plainly the voices of men in the room above. Anina was beside him. "They're up there," he whispered, pointing. "Let's land and see if we can get up those stairs a ways and hear what they're saying." They stood a moment, undecided, and then from the silence and darkness about them they distinctly heard a low muffled sound. "What's that?" whispered Mercer, startled. "Didn't you hear that, Anina? There's something over there by the bottom of the steps." They listened, but only the murmur of the voices from above, and an occasional footstep, broke the stillness. "I tell you I heard something," Mercer persisted. "There's something over there." He rattled a bit of rope incautiously, as if to startle a rat from its hiding place. "Let's tie up, Anina." They made the boat fast, but in such a way that they could cast it loose quickly. "We might want to get out of here in a hurry," Mercer whispered with a grin. "You never can tell, Anina." He stood stock still. The sound near at hand was repeated. It was unmistakable this time--a low, stifled moan. Mercer stepped lightly out of the boat onto the platform. A few boxes, a coil of rope, and other odds and ends stood about. He felt his way forward among them toward the bottom of the steps. He heard the moan again, and now he saw the outlines of a human figure lying against the farther wall. Anina was close behind him.